Disclaimer – I own naught but the plot. Totally.

Warnings – A little violence in coming chapters. This, unfortunately has little physical violence. Very slight Robin twisting. I love the boy dearly, but it had to be done…

Other – Not a whole lot going on here. The story will pick up after this chapter. But somethings needed to be set up.

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Star lay on her bed, head hanging off the edge. Raven's word still haunted her memory and they seemed to ring true. With work on his mind, Robin would never have time for her.

Raven had changed greatly since they had met. At first, she had thought the strange dark girl was weird, even bordering on freakish. There was a tension between the two that had not completely disappeared yet, but had greatly diminished.

Star only wanted Raven to be happy these days. Raven was the closest thing to a best friend she had.

A knock on the door caused her to slide off the bed, narrowly avoiding thunking her head on the floor. It slid open revealing the girl she had just been thinking about. Star scrambled to her feet, blushing slightly.

"Friend Raven! I hope you are well."

"I am. Listen, Star, I just wanted to talk to you about what I said earlier."

"Please, come in."

Raven couldn't get comfortable in such bright and obviously cheery room, so she sat awkwardly on the edge of Star's bed.

"Don't take it too hard… I'm sure if you talk to him, tell him how you feel, it'll get through his skull."

"I have thought about it, as well. It is not worth it to tell him. I should not ask him to choose between his work and myself."

"Star, any sane man would choose you."

"But I do not wish Friend Robin to give up his work."

Raven sighed, "I just hope I didn't make you feel too badly earlier."

Her cold demeanor melted slightly, and Star beamed, clasping her hands together.

"Oh no, Friend Raven. You have brightened my day."

"Glad I could… help…" Raven sidled quickly out of the room, "I'm going to go meditate now."

Raven settled down to meditate, drawing her knees up to float cross-legged, hands resting on her knees. Eyes sliding shut, she felt immediately at peace with herself. Easily separating from herself, she left her mortal form floating in her bedroom.

Her spectral body quivered for a moment and then slowly appeared firm. Walking through the wall and out into the fresh air, Raven started her rounds.

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Robin stared at the screen, rewatching his battle with Mumbo, trying to figure out what had gone wrong. Everything had been planned immaculately. Nothing bad was supposed to happen. Mumbo would be knocked unconscious, he would step in as the genius behind his weapon, take the credit with a humble bow, Mumbo would be locked up, and all would be normal.

But nothing was normal now. He was a murderer. He killed a man.

No… he couldn't have.

He was Robin. He was the Boy Wonder.

He wasn't allowed to make mistakes.

Someone else must have sabotaged him. Someone else was the murderer.

But who?

The video replayed but this time something different caught his eye. Raven disappeared from view as the smoke exploded. She was gone for 31.002 seconds. What had she done in that time?

She was evidently the one out for his place as leader of the Titans. She wanted him to lose his position. She wanted him to be hated. She wanted him gone.

The thing, though, was to strike her first. But she couldn't know it was him. That would mean seeking outside help. Easy. Too easy.

A small voice at the back of his head demanded he stop; Raven was his friend! She'd never hurt him. But an even louder voice screamed that he couldn't have killed Mumbo. Raven did.

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His plans were laid, immaculately set. The first step was physical pain. That was given rather easily. All he had to do was pay some idiot enough money.

It was to his advantage that most crooks in this town were willing to take on the Titans for dirt. Everybody had a vendetta against the crummy teen heroes. For every person they saved, they earned a handful of angry would-be villains.

A precarious situation. One stone could easily over throw the balance. A pebble, in fact.

Or a rogue hero.

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"You'll never stop The Shocking Flame!" The newest – and possibly the lamest – villain of Jump City laughed manically, head thrown back. His outfit was a black sweat-suit with spray painted flames on the edges. Though his outfit was a laugh, his technology could be considered dangerous.

A spurt of electrical lightning danced from his fingertips, setting a nearby hedge on fire.

Beastboy morphed into a llama, spitting on it, putting it out. He jumped into being a ram, rushing the misfit miscreant. The Shocking Flame sidestepped neatly and ran into the maze.

The Teen Titans had gotten a call nearly ten minutes earlier; a farmer complaining that a whack-o in a costume was ruining his crops. They arrived on his farm and were met with a corn maze.

Beastboy became human again, complaining loudly, "Why do they always run? He's not even that a-MAZE-ing." He laughed outrageously at his own joke. Nobody else bothered even smiling.

"Split up. Raven take left, Star take straight ahead, Cyborg, you and Beastboy take right. I'll head to the other side if he comes out. Titans, GO!"

Raven floated slowly down the left venue, glancing around uneasily. Something felt wrong about this, horribly wrong. But it was nothing she couldn't deal with on her own. She repeated that a few times in her head, controlling the unexplained fear that dripped through her veins.

Eventually she came to a fork in the road; again she chose the left side. As soon as she stepped into the row, the ground beneath her gave way. She didn't have time to scream as she plummeted into a pit.

The ground was approximately thirty feet down, but she had enough sense to slow her fall so that she didn't break any bones. The light above her vanished as the pit closed up again.

Sore, but otherwise unharmed, Raven tried to figure out where she was. It was dark, cold, and moist. Which gave her a plethora of places she may or may not be.

The sounds of battle rang out from somewhere above; Presumably the Shocking Flame and her friends. Calming herself, Raven flew to the ceiling, running her hands over it to try and find a weakness, a crack. It was smooth.

Her eyes began to see better in the darkness, allowing her the small discovery that she was in a square room with no visible entrances or exits except a locked door on the far wall.

A torch near the door suddenly lit up and a hauntingly familiar voice slid through the air, taunting her.

"Welcome, Raven, to your own personal hell."